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Art VLOG: Gelli Prints for Abstract Collage

Mar 5, 2024
2 min read

This Vlog is all about gelli printing onto larger sheets of paper and building up layers to create papers for collage.

When I'm looking for papers for collage I love to discover structure within the layers of paint and print, and the stripes created by removing excess paint from the roller onto a 'dump' sheet make a great starting point.

I returned to my weeds for this video and took impressions from them in a couple of different ways.

| Layered Gelli Prints

I re-used my previously painted sheets ( where I've rolled the excess paint of my roller) for these gelli prints, which all help to build up the visual layers over the underlying structure. I love to re-purpose papers where I can to avoid wastage and the bonus is that the layers begin to appear from the start.

Whilst these dump sheets haven't been overly used to begin with, some of them become quite complex during a printing session and I find doing a few final prints on them are a great way to finish off a printing session.

For these I used a colour palette that I've been exploring in a painting, making the results useful for the collage elements of my mixed media work-in-progress. Some of the colours are more translucent than others, and the results are a bit unpredictable, but for me that's the best bit!

I also experimented with a previously gessoed piece of wax paper, which I haven't tried to collage, but the wrinkled surface texture of the paper was calling for a print. I'm not sure if the resulting print will be useful for anything, but it's now pinned to the studio wall as inspiration if nothing else!

For my 'dump' sheets I just use a white easel paper which is inexpensive but fine for collaging onto mixed media work. I did use a couple of small sheets of wet strength tissue in this session too.